34
Concerns in Europe: January - June 2001
AI Index: EUR 01/003/2001
Amnesty International September 2001
independent mechanism to hear complaints. It
considers prison conditions unacceptable, and regards
as inadequate detainees’ access to a lawyer, a doctor
of their own choice and to family members. The
Committee also expressed its concern about the
instances of mob violence against religious minorities,
and the failure of the police to intervene and take
appropriate action in punishing the perpetrators. AI
urged the Georgian authorities to implement the
recommendations of the Committee and to take
forward the verbal commitments of the Georgian
delegation at the session to make declarations
recognizing the competence of the Committee under
Articles 21 and 22 of the Convention. This would
enable the Committee to receive and consider
communications from another state party, and from
individuals who claim they have been tortured or ill-
treated by state agents.
Concerns in the disputed region of Abkhazia
The overall situation in the conflict zone, in particular
in the Gali region, remained volatile, with reports of
sporadic outbreaks of hostilities, sometimes resulting
in the deaths of civilians. In a meeting in Yalta in
March, both sides formally restated their commitment
to creating the necessary conditions for the safe and
voluntary return of refugees and internally displaced
people to the disputed region.
Visit by AI delegate to Abkhazia
In April an AI delegate visited Abkhazia, meeting
with representatives of the de facto authorities. The
delegate
sought
further
information
on
the
investigation into the death of Zurab Achba (see
below), as well as reiterating concerns about the
continued application of the death penalty, and about
the reported imprisonment of conscientious objectors
to compulsory military service (see AI Index: EUR
01/001/2001). The delegate also met with various
non-governmental organizations during the visit.
Reported arbitrary detentions by the de facto
Abkhaz authorities
AI is concerned at reports that the Abkhaz authorities
had again apparently arbitrarily detained Georgian
fishermen in the capacity of hostages, in retaliation for
the actions of Georgian irregular armed forces.
Anyone held without formal charge and with their
release conditional on the release of others, is
effectively being arbitrarily detained in the capacity of
a hostage. International standards prohibit the taking
or holding of hostages in all circumstances.
The sequence of events began in April, when a
serious deterioration of relations between the parties
to the conflict was triggered by the killing of two local
residents in an ambush near Gali, reportedly by an
irregular Georgian armed group. On 8 April, the
Abkhaz authorities reportedly killed two members of
a Georgian irregular armed group and took a further
three into custody in an operation to apprehend the
alleged perpetrators of the ambush. The Georgian
armed group then apparently retaliated on 12 April by
abducting five Abkhaz soldiers (two ethnic Abkhaz,
one Georgian, one Russian and one Turk) from their
observation posts. The Abkhaz apparently responded
further on 14 April by intercepting and impounding a
Georgian fishing boat and taking five fishermen into
15
See Report of the Secretary-General concerning the
situation in Abkhazia, Georgia, UN Document S/2001/401, 24 April
custody in Sukhumi. The Abkhaz authorities claimed
the fishing boat had trespassed in Abkhaz territorial
waters. They reportedly offered to release the five
fishermen in exchange for the five Abkhaz soldiers
abducted by the Georgian group, despite statements
by the armed group leader Dato Shengelaia that he
would only release the soldiers in exchange for the
three members of his group who were detained on 8
April. Then on 7 May, the Georgian armed group
reportedly abducted a senior Abkhaz customs official.
Following a negotiated agreement, on 11 May the
Abkhaz authorities released the five Georgian
fishermen and three members of the Georgian armed
group, and the Georgian side released the five Abkhaz
soldiers and the Abkhaz customs official.
Following these events, the UN Secretary-
General also reminded the Georgian authorities of
their commitment to take effective measures to put a
stop to the activities of illegal armed groups crossing
into the Gali district from the Georgian-controlled side
of the cease-fire line.
15
The murder of human rights defender Zurab Achba
(update to information in AI Index: EUR 01/001/2001)
According to reports, Abri Dzhergeniya, then Abkhaz
Procurator General, stated on 15
May that a Georgian
currently living in Bryansk in the Russian Federation
had been identified as the main suspect in the murder
of Zurab Achba. Abri Dzhergeniya stated that this
man was now wanted by the Russian police, and added
that two other suspects had been detained in
connection with Zurab Achba’s death but have not
been charged with murder. Zurab Achba, a legal
assistant to the UN Human Rights Office in Abkhazia,
was shot and killed in Sukhumi on 15 August 2000.
AI is concerned about allegations that some official
structures were implicated in the killing, and urged the
Abkhaz authorities to ensure the investigation into
Zurab Achba’s death is thorough and impartial. There
was one report that journalist Valya Emkhvari who
had apparently been investigating the death of Zurab
Achba, was killed on the night of 20 to 21 June in
Sukhumi. A spokesman for the Revival Party, which
Zurab Achba had previously headed, was reported to
allege that the journalist had been killed by the same
people who killed Zurab Achba.
2001